SDPD targets jaywalkers and traffic ‘trouble spots’

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Police Department is cracking down on known “trouble spots” for jaywalking and other traffic safety violations in a day of planned “bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operations.”

The crackdown, which mirrors those that SDPD has conducted repeatedly over the past several months, is taking place from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Police have mapped out locations throughout San Diego where pedestrian- and bicycle-involved collisions have occurred over the last three years, and will focus routine traffic patrols on these trouble spots.

Special targeted patrols will also be deployed to crack down on drivers who violate traffic laws, as well as pedestrians who cross the street illegally or fail to yield when traffic has the right-of-way.

San Diego police have investigated thousands of fatal and injury collisions involving bicyclists and pedestrians over the past three years, the statement said.

According to the department, there were 701 pedestrian deaths in the state of California in 2013 — 23 percent of all roadway fatalities and much higher than the national average of 15 percent.

Funding for the enforcement operations program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.